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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655546">Faith and Doubt Under an Eternally Dark Sky</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechavanator/pseuds/thechavanator'>thechavanator</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Quest XI</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Act 2 Spoilers, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), Mute Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), both in the "alluded to but not seen/described" sense AND the Other One!, in like. a platonic sense., let gemma Do Things canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:07:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655546</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechavanator/pseuds/thechavanator</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gemma never really lost faith, not in Eleven. Never in Eleven, even when he's lost faith in himself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emma | Gemma &amp; Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Faith and Doubt Under an Eternally Dark Sky</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is...not what I expected my tenth fic in the fandom to be, tbh. Also idek what that title is don't @ me</p>
<p>OKAY SO the prompt was “Please don’t cry. I can’t stand to see you cry” as sent by the lovely iinu (SecretlyACatLady) and it got....a bit out of hand. I had this planned for most of the day but I actually got it written in like two hours. (that means minimal editing. whoops.)</p>
<p>I just...I want Gemma to DO THINGS besides being the love interest. Is that too much to ask for, man? (Consequently, this is intended as platonic, but I guess you could read it as romantic if you were so inclined?)</p>
<p>(also the existence of a character tag for sandy brings me SO MUCH JOY)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Six months ago, Gemma saw the sky for the first time in a year. She finally emerged from the depths of Heliodor’s dungeons, ushered by the general who led them there in the first place. She hadn’t gotten much of a read on him at the time, but he seemed pretty serious, almost unshakeable.</p>
<p>So the fact that he was panicking—not even just <em>nervous</em>, but full-force verging on breakdown, nonstop apologizing to no one in particular—clued her in that something was very, <em>very</em> wrong.</p>
<p>Six months ago, Gemma watched dark smoke pour out of Heliodor Castle, or what she had <em>assumed </em>was smoke until it coated the whole sky in an inky false night. Wasn’t that something like what her best friend had set out to prevent in the first place? And since she and Amber and the rest of Cobblestone were freed, that meant that Heliodor had been wrong.</p>
<p>So where <em>was</em> he? Why wasn’t he by Hendrik’s side leading them back home? And why wouldn’t Hendrik look her in the eye when she asked about him?</p>
<p>Five months ago, the raids started, and Gemma found herself face-to-face with a skeleton in a knight’s suit of armor, whispering that the Luminary, Eleven, <em>her best friend</em>, had fallen. That he’d gone down without a fight, that he’d just accepted that his time in the mortal realm had ended and did nothing to prevent that. “The world’s so-called ‘savior’ gave up on it, in the end,” it told her.</p>
<p>She told that skeleton that, frankly, she thought it was talking out of its arse, and she buried an axe in its chest and left it at that. Imagine that, ‘Ven <em>dying</em>. He’s out there, somewhere, she just knows it.</p>
<p>Four months ago, Gemma switched from sewing dresses and trousers to stitching emblems onto flags and patching holes in soldiers’ uniforms. Cobblestone—wait, no, the Last Bastion, it’s called now—wasn’t built for war, and the rest of the village and what’s left of Heliodor were still adjusting to raids, but all things considered, they’re making the best of it, she supposed.</p>
<p>Three months ago, Gemma fired a cannon for the first (and preferably last) time. Sure, it was satisfying watching a squadron of skeletons crumble into dust from atop her perch on the walls, but she’s perfectly content playing support in other ways.</p>
<p>Two months ago, Amber taught her smithing, and her duties expanded from just clothwork to fixing lances and swords and armor. Perhaps, someday, when Eleven saves everyone at last, she can work that into her boutique. Maybe she can offer knights’ apparel?</p>
<p>But of course, that’s <em>if</em> ‘Ven can fix this. And under ordinary circumstances there’d have been no doubt in her mind, but Hendrik <em>still</em> wouldn’t tell her what happened, and Eleven’s still gone…</p>
<p>One month ago, Gemma met another knight’s ghost, twisted into a monstrous form, maybe from the castle’s fall, maybe from the day before or the week before, and it told her the same thing as the skeleton; that her best friend had died, that he didn’t even try to fight back.</p>
<p>She told it that ‘Ven would never let that happen, and she froze it with a spell the fortune teller had spent weeks drilling into her head, and that was the end of that. And it was true, she’d seen it herself, she’d watched him stand up to monsters with only a sword, some fire magic, and a handful of herbs to back him up. He wouldn’t have died without a fight.</p>
<p>But, the realistic part of her noted, that doesn’t mean he didn’t die at <em>all</em>.</p>
<p>Today, Gemma goes to the wilds, Sandy trotting beside her and her axe in hand for both its intended purpose (chopping wood) and its more common purpose nowadays (chopping monsters), when Sandy takes off without her, charging ahead towards goddess only knows what. Another raid? A traveler seeking shelter?</p>
<p>Apparently, Sandy found a ghost. Not the monster kind, not even the peaceful-spirit kind—unless ghosts are far more tangible than the stories led her to believe—but a boy in a too-familiar coat, practically dragging his sword behind him. Not a ghost physically, but in spirit, almost certainly. She’s never seen her best friend look so heartbroken.</p>
<p>“’Ven?” she calls, taking a hesitant step forward, and he jumps almost a meter off the ground in fright at the mere sound of her voice. (He’d never been the most confident, but this is <em>definitely</em> new.) He looks around wildly, lifting his sword up from the dirt trail he’s been creating with its tip, before he locks eyes with her.</p>
<p>The sword falls as she watches his mind puts together that she’s alive, that <em>Cobblestone </em>is alive. She runs towards him, ready to give him the biggest hug of his life, taunting every monster that tried to tell her he was gone—</p>
<p>But she slows to a standstill, hand over her mouth as her eyes catch two things of particular note. First of all, Eleven doesn’t look happy. He looks like he’s about to cry, frankly. And second, she spots the tangled web of broken threads on that old duster, right over his heart, like something had clawed—</p>
<p>Oh, goddess, is <em>that</em> why Hendrik wouldn’t say anything when she asked?! Poor ‘Ven…</p>
<p>He closes the distance, collapsing onto her, sword still laying forgotten where he’d dropped it. He shudders, and she can hear him outright <em>sobbing</em>.</p>
<p>“’Ven,” she whispers, “it’s alright. Please don’t cry…”</p>
<p>Gemma never been able to hold it together when Eleven cries, and now is no different, even as he releases her. She watches through blurry eyes as he signs at her (not really <em>to</em> her, it’s frenzied and rambly), something about his friends and claws and King Carnelian and mermaids (???).</p>
<p>“<em>Gem, how come everyone I try to help just ends up hurting ‘cause of me?” </em>he asks at the end of his rant. “<em>Wasn’t I supposed to save everyone? Why is everyone </em>worse<em> off ‘cause I tried to do whatever everyone wanted me to?”</em></p>
<p>She doesn’t know how to answer him. She’s just a girl from some backwater town who barely knew what Yggdrasil <em>was</em> before She fell, she doesn’t know the ins-and-outs of destinies and apocalypses.</p>
<p>“<em>Maybe they were right. Maybe I </em>am<em> some sort of Darkspawn. The world would still be safe if I hadn’t</em>—”</p>
<p>She cuts him off, voice cracking, but she can’t bring herself to care about ill-timed vocal malfunctions right now. Not when her best friend needs someone to help bring him back to normal. “No. I don’t believe any of that. ‘Eliodor was <em>wrong.</em> Nothin’ that ‘appened ‘ere was your fault.”</p>
<p>He wipes the tears from his eyes, taking a shuddering breath as he tries to calm himself. “<em>I dunno, Gem. It just feels like everywhere I go, things just…get worse. Like I’m cursed or something.”</em></p>
<p>“You’re not cursed. Sounds more like a fight that you ‘ad no way of winnin’.” She picks up the sword he left behind as Sandy nuzzles him, earning half a laugh for her troubles. “C’mon, ‘Ven. Let’s get you back ‘ome. Your mum’s been worried sick, and you’ve earned yourself some rest!”</p>
<p>He nods, slow, like he’s only half-listening, and Sandy leads them both back…well, it’s not really <em>home</em> in the same sense anymore, but it’s <em>almost</em> home, and that’s good enough for Gemma.</p>
<p>She just hopes it’s good enough for him, too, at least until he’s okay enough to save them, like she always knew he would.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tumblr: thechavanator (main) / eleven-of-light (dq spoiler blog) / chellion-characters (OC blog)<br/>twitter: nonotfromportal<br/>discord: Chel!#2061</p>
<p>I always forget to say this (what better time than my tenth fic for the fandom, lmao), but really, thank you for reading. I fell out of writing fanfic for a while before this game got my ideas going again, and every interaction has made me happier that I got back into it. Really, from the bottom of my heart: thank you.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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